News

The lack of physical buttons in new cars should be considered alarming from a safety POV.

I drive an Audi Q7 and every time I turn my headlights on, I get warnings about how my "Side Marker Lights" are malfunctioning.

First, no, they're working fine.

Second, this seems to be super common on the Q7.

Third, the only "fix" is a $4,000 headlight assembly replacement.

Or, you know, connect an ODB-II device and disable the side marker lights.

What bothers me the most (aside from getting rid of all knobs and physical buttons...) is that I bought a car the better part of a decade ago with Android Auto. And it is awesome. It is everything I want in a car "entertainment" system and it makes it trivial to navigate and listen to music.

So... of course car companies are going out of their way to block that and apple auto. Because they want subscription fees.

Ok the article mentioned ai climate control. Bitch that's not ai we have that in cars for decades

I think I got my car at the right time... it has Android Auto and a few automated features that I really appreciate, like auto headlights, pushbutton start, and adaptive cruise control. I can control some functions via an app on my phone, like remote unlock and remote start, which has come in very handy on several occasions. But it still has physical controls for all the commonly used and critical functions. It doesn't have a huge glass panel taking up most of the dashboard.

The one and only feature that really truly annoys me sometimes is the reverse automatic braking. It uses sensors on the back of the car, and if I have my hitch-mount bike rack in place it freaks out. I can disable it, but only until the next time I start the car, and every time I have to hold down a software button on the touch screen for 3 seconds. While I'm trying to back up. There should really be a physical toggle button for that.

My parents just got a new car with one of those tablets built into the console. They were showing it off to me and turned it on, only for the radio to be blaring and my dad had to go through like 5 menus to get to stop it from playing.

It turns out MOST products and services are built with shit we don't want but not a single damn corporation listens.

That's ummmmmm capitalism?

I actually like big screens on infotainment systems, especially the ones that integrate into the dash and not the ones where it looks like they just stuck a tablet on top of the dash. I have a Subaru and it has a nice vertical 11in screen. I also like the design of the new Hyundai and Kia screens that run across the dash.

Having said that, those screens should strictly be for that purpose, infotainment. Anything that controls essential functions should still be physical buttons, levers, and dials.

I was excited when Volvo announced they were going to release an affordable subcompact SUV EV, then saw they put almost everything on the infotainment screen in the middle of the dash, even the speedometer!

The only tech I want:

AC

Heated seats

Bluetooth/am/fm/aux sound system with good high and low ranges, but honestly as long as I have a diagram of what wires go where I can install my own like I did on my last two.

A backup camera for those times when I need to line up my trailer hitch but don't have a partner to guide me.

Beyond that?

Meh.

Depends on the tech. Touch screens? Those can go fuck themselves. Adaptive cruise control? I love that shit. Any backlighting beyond what's necessary to see knobs and buttons in otherwise total darkness? Fuck you! Any backlighting that's any color other than red? EXTRA fuck you! Backup cam? Yeah those are good. Backup cam screen that becomes some obnoxiously bright LCD display for the radio? No, fuck that.

Random side thought: a strict Eco mode only-when-pushed button would be pretty amazing. Eco mode kinda already forces your to drive like a grandma, but at the cost of responsiveness. Responsiveness is important if something catches you off guard, so if I slam on the gas suddenly, I want my car to fucking book it, cuz that probably means I'm trying to dodge something. That said, more often than not, when I'm accelerating from a stop or getting up to speed on the freeway, there's not really any urgency... but I tend to accelerate faster than necessary (waste gas) because my monkey brain likes the zoom-zoom. I want like... idk, the equivalent of a push-to-talk button on the steering wheel for embracing my inner grandma. I push it when I'm actively assessing that there's no urgency; my speed of acceleration will make only seconds of difference in my overall trip; and no matter how hard I pump that gas peddle, the uses only the most optimal amount of gas to get me up to and maintain speed. Then I take an exit into some busy downtown bullshit where there's shit coming at me from every direction, and I need to be able to jolt to dodge the giant metal projectile piloted by the monkey brain a few car lengths away from mine.

Basically keep the "Oh shit!" actions free of as many inputs as possible; demand a bit more from the thinky chunk of meat in my head shell only when everything else is relatively chill.

I would pay an extra 3k for "lack of touchscreen"